Chapter 497: Strange Bandits
From their position to the foot of the mountain, the group needed at least half a month.
After that, it would take another three months to arrive at the entrance of the Burial Province.
Knowing that, no one dared to slack.
After all, they didn’t want to get to the Burial Province only to realise that the strange disappearances had stopped.
However, even as they kept up their speed, the group wasn’t careless.
Other than demonic beasts, the Boundless Mountain had many foreign cultivators including evil cultivators and treasure-hunting cultivators.
Ordinarily, encountering a hostile party or demonic beast wasn’t an issue.
From another perspective, encountering enemies was a good thing since killing them would result in loot.
However, the Cangxing group was in a hurry and didn’t want to waste time dealing with random attackers.
Unfortunately, wishes were not horses.
On the ninth day after they set off, the nineteen Cangxing cultivators encountered a group of about thirty people.
The thirty cultivators wore black robes and masks.
At a glance, the thirty were indistinguishable from each other and there was no way to tell their identity.
’Here comes trouble.’ Jiang Yue thought and almost rolled his eyes.
"Fellow Taoists, is something the matter?" He asked with a smile on his face.
"Do as we say if you want your lives." A black-masked person spoke.
Hearing the voice, Jiang Yue frowned.
Originally, he thought he would get a clue from the people’s voices.
Unfortunately, the speaker’s voice was clearly artificial.
’I didn’t expect there to be voice synthesisers in the cultivation world.’ Jiang Yue couldn’t help but think.
However, none of his thoughts showed on his face.
Instead, he maintained his smile and looked at the person who gave the orders.
"What do the fellow Taoists want?" He asked.
Although Jiang Yue was reluctant, if the price wasn’t too high, he wanted to end the matter peacefully.
"We want everything on your body." The opponent said and quickly clarified.
"Everything including your space storage, clothes, shoes, and accessories."
Hearing this, Jiang Yue and his group were shocked.
Although they hadn’t been in the Reincarnation world for many years, they knew old and current news.
Because of this, they knew how treasure-hunting cultivators and bandits generally acted.
Normally, treasure-hunting cultivators would kill their victims and take everything from their bodies.
Contrary, bandits and pirates were more conscientious.
Rather than kill their opponents, they usually charged a reasonable fee.
After the victims paid the price, the bandits would let the people go without harming them.
This time, the bandits were a strange kind.
Not only did the people want their storage artefacts, but also their clothes and shoes.
’Are they perverts?’ Jiang Yue couldn’t help but wonder.
At the same time, one of the Cangxing cultivators couldn’t tolerate such unreasonableness.
"Preposterous." The person shouted.
In the Cangxing world, the person was an elder in the Divine Fist sect and was highly respected.
After arriving in the Reincarnation world, he realised there was a heaven beyond the sky and people beyond people.
However, even with that knowledge, he couldn’t tolerate the opponent’s behaviour of robbing everything including their underpants.
[Mountain master, I can’t see the cultivation of most of them.] Wei Ge transmitted and his eyes narrowed into slits.
While Jiang Yue was negotiating with the enemy, Yu Nianzhen, Wei Ge, Murong Feng, and the others were evaluating the enemy.
Unfortunately, their conclusion was not good.
Of the thirty people, Yu Nianzhen couldn’t see the cultivation of twenty-six.
[At least twenty-six are at or above the second level of the reincarnation realm.] Yu Nianzhen said.
[Everyone in our group is only in the first level of the reincarnation realm. Also, we have four alchemists who aren’t good at fighting.] Murong Feng added.
[Our only choice is to run away.] Wei Ge said with a reluctant look in his eyes.
Wei Ge was born into a family of generals.
After he turned thirteen and awakened his origin, he was immediately sent to the foreign devils’ battlefield.
Since then, he only left the battlefield when there were major opportunities in the mainland.
Due to the training he received on the battlefield, Wei Ge was very reluctant to turn his back on the enemy.
However, his training also included the importance of strategic retreats.
At the moment, their Cangxing group had no advantage against the thirty enemies.
If they insisted on fighting, they would all die without leaving a complete body.
"Two fellow Taoists, prepare everyone for escape. Wait until you receive my signal.] Yu Nianzhen said.
[Okay.] Murong Feng said.
[I understand.] Wei Ge also agreed.
At the same time, Yu Nianzhen messaged Jiang Yue.
[XiaoYue, how many formation disks can you stack together?] He asked.
Hearing this, Jiang Yue’s smile grew brighter.
When he was in retreat, he spent many years studying formations and engraving formation disks.
[Three formations.] He said and then continued.
[A trapping formation, illusion formation, and a killing formation.] Jiang Yue said in a proud voice.
[My XiaoYue is so clever.] Yu Nianzhen complimented and Jiang Yue almost laughed.
However, he hadn’t forgotten the current situation so he forcibly suppressed the laughter.
[Using one formation disk for thirty people is not ideal.] Jiang Yue reminded.
[We only need to buy enough time for our group to escape. How many formation disks should we activate?]
[At least five.] Jiang Yue said and the two fell silent.
A moment later, Yu Nianzhen thought of a solution.
[First, activate an illusion formation disk to damage their focus. While they are confused, use several trapping formation disks to separate the thirty people. Simultaneously, stack more illusion formation disks and killing formation disks.]
[The plan is good but I can’t do it alone.] Jiang Yue said and frowned.
At his current cultivation level, it was impossible to activate so many formation disks at once.
[You only need to activate the first illusion formation disk. I will take care of the rest.]
[Azhen, you can’t...]
[Don’t worry. I won’t do it alone.]
[Okay.] Jiang Yue said and then continued.
[After everything is done, I will activate the directional formation disk to take everyone out of here.]
[Alright, I will leave it to you.]
"Are the fellow Taoists planning to escape?" A voice suddenly interrupted the communication between the two.
Although the voice was artificial, it held a note of teasing.
"Escape? The leader is telling jokes again." Another artificial voice said and several people burst into laughter.
In their eyes, the nineteen Cangxing cultivators were fish on a chopping board.
No matter how they tried, the nineteen first-level ants couldn’t escape from them.
"Hurry up and remove everything." One of the enemies said in an impatient voice.
"These fellow Taoists, can we at least keep our clothes?" Jiang Yue said with a helpless look in his eyes.
"We have women in our group and it’s not good for everyone to take off their clothes in front of them."
"Everything means everything." The leader said in an uncompromising voice.
"You are lucky we are letting you keep your lives." Another said.
"Leader, he is trying to buy time. Let’s kill them and end the matter. We can just take everything from their bodies."
"Leader, I also think we should kill them."
"Shut up." The leader suddenly shouted and then turned to Jiang Yue.
"You have twenty breaths to take off everything and leave. Those who are still here after twenty breaths will be killed." The person threatened.
When they heard that, some of the Cangxing cultivators couldn’t help but panic.
However, Yu Nianzhen, Jiang Yue, Wei Ge, Murong Feng, and those in the know, didn’t panic.
Instead, they saw it as an opportunity.
[Go.] Yu Nianzhen transmitted and all hell broke loose.
Before the opponents could react, Jiang Yue activated and trapped them in an illusion formation.
Simultaneously, Yu Nianzhen and the rest also activated the previously prepared formation disks.
After that, Jiang Yue activated a teleportation disk and took everyone away from the enemy.
However, because the teleportation disk carried too many people, the teleportation distance was not long.
Fortunately, Jiang Yue had prepared for this.
As soon as they landed, he activated another teleportation formation and they continued to escape.
In the end, Jiang Yue and several Cangxing cultivators activated a total of ten teleportation formations.
When they finally stopped, they were out of the Boundless Mountain range and halfway to the Burial Province.
"Let’s rest here for a few days." Yu Nianzhen said and everyone agreed.
After activating so many formation disks, everyone was tired and they couldn’t wait to rest.
"Fortunately, we distributed formation disks early on." Jiang Yue said and looked at his lover in admiration.
Before setting off for the Burial Province, Yu Nianzhen asked him to distribute formation disks to everyone.
If Yu Nianzhen hadn’t thought ahead, escaping the enemy would have been a lot harder.
"My XiaoYue made the formation disks and is the most impressive." Yu Nianzhen said and smiled.
"Well..." Jiang Yue started but a buzzing sound interrupted him.
"Azhen, your communication jade is reacting." He said but Yu Nianzhen had already reached for the jade.
A moment later, the swordsman finished reading the message and his face turned extraordinarily pale.
With a lost look, he looked at Jiang Yue but didn’t know what to say.
